This work reviews the use of thickness shear mode resonators for temperature sensing and pressure measurement. Advantages of such sensors include inherently digital format, high resolution, high accuracy, and long-term stability. This work reviews the physical principles involved in the operation of the devices along with quoted sensor performance results. The earliest commercially available temperature sensors were stand-alone units. Their use and commercial success evolved through different stages depending in part on ancillary electronics available at the time. A number of temperature-sensing applications are ancillary to other thickness shear resonator sensors. Two main categories are separate resonator for temperature compensation and dual-mode operation of a single thickness shear resonator. Dual-mode oper- ation subdivides into use of two modes from different thickness shear mode families or two modes from the same thickness shear mode family. A variety of pressure sensors use the fact that the frequency of a thickness shear resonator changes with stress bias. Such applica- tions divide conveniently into categories dependent on the pattern of stress bias used.

Review of thickness-shear mode quartz resonator sensors for temperature and pressure

Monitoring of integrin-mediated adhesion of human ovarian cancer cells to model protein surfaces by quartz crystal resonators: evaluation in the impedance analysis mode

Dual mode excitation of resonators allows the highly accurate measurement of, and compensation for, the effects of temperature, pressure, etc., by means of frequency measurements alone. Frequency can be measured with far higher accuracy than any other quantity. In dual mode excitation, the two excited modes occupy the same volume of quartz, thereby allowing the resonator to sense two measurands simultaneously, e.g., pressure and temperature. This paper reviews the dual-mode technique and its sensor applications.

Temperature-insensitive dual-mode resonant sensors - a review

Frequency can be measured with far higher accuracy than any other quantity. Dual mode excitation of resonators allows the highly accurate measurement of, and compensation for, the effects of temperature, pressure, etc., by means of frequency measurements alone. In dual mode excitation, the two excited modes occupy the same volume of quartz, thereby eliminating gradients between the resonator and sensor. This paper reviews the dual-mode technique and its applications in oscillators, clocks and sensors.

/pdf/dual-mode-oscillators-for-clocks-and-sensors-47gkx5ponz.pdf

Dual-mode oscillators for clocks and sensors

Pressure measurement under harsh environments, especially at high temperatures, is of great interest to many industries. The applicability of current pressure sensing technologies in extreme environments is limited by the embedded electronics which cannot survive beyond 300 °C ambient temperature as of today. In this paper, a pressure signal processing and wireless transmission module based on the cutting-edge Silicon Carbide (SiC) devices is designed and developed, for a commercial piezoresistive MEMS pressure sensor from Kulite Semiconductor Products, Inc. Equipped with this advanced high-temperature SiC electronics, not only the sensor head, but the entire pressure sensor suite is capable of operating at 450 °C. The addition of wireless functionality also makes the pressure sensor more flexible in harsh environments by eliminating the costly and fragile cable connections. The proposed approach was verified through prototype fabrication and high temperature bench testing from room temperature up to 450 °C. This novel high-temperature pressure sensing technology can be applied in real-time health monitoring of many systems involving harsh environments, such as military and commercial turbine engines.

https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/13/3/2719/pdf

A Harsh Environment Wireless Pressure Sensing Solution Utilizing High Temperature Electronics

The development of a dual-mode thickness-shear quartz pressure sensor to meet the demanding performance requirements of oil-field applications is discussed. The objective was to develop a sensor with an operating pressure range of 0-103.42 MPa (0.15 000 lb/in/sup 2/), a temperature range of -10 to +175 degrees C, a pressure calibration accuracy of 6894.8 Pa (1 lb/in/sup 2/), and resolution of 68.95 Pa (0.01 lb/in/sup 2/) with 1-s counter gate time. Doubly rotated cuts with piezoelectric coupling to both the C-modes of vibration were investigated. A theoretical study and general design considerations in the development of such sensors are described. Experimental results were obtained for two sensor designs: one uses a cylindrical design with the SBTC-cut, and the other, called SPA, is a special resonator design vibrating around 5 MHz without any activity dips. Pressure sensitivity of approximately 145 Hz/MPa (1 Hz/lb/in/sup 2/) at 175 degrees C is obtained. Laboratory evaluation of the static and dynamic performances is discussed for the prototypes based on the SPA design. >

A dual-mode thickness-shear quartz pressure sensor

Performance requirements from pressure and temperature sensors especially for use in oil fields are very demanding. Several years of effort have been devoted to the development of a dual-mode thickness-shear quartz pressure sensor to meet such requirements. The objective of this effort was to develop a sensor with a pressure range of up to 15000 psi, a temperature range of up to 175 degrees C, a pressure calibration accuracy of 1 psi, and a resolution of 0.01 psi with 1-s counter gate time. It is demonstrated that the dual-mode thickness-shear quartz pressure sensor presented meets or exceeds these requirements. The pressure resolution is better than 0.01 psi at 1-s counter gate time. A significant advantage of the dual-mode design is its dynamic performance. An in situ measurement of the resonator temperature allows an implementation of an extremely effective dynamic compensation algorithm which yields corrected pressure readings with a response time as short as a strain-gauge-based pressure transducer while retaining the high performance of a quartz gauge under static conditions. >

R.J. Besson

Papers

A dual-mode thickness-shear quartz pressure sensor

A dual-mode thickness-shear quartz pressure sensor